Mixed bag of ABC results for Future’s games titles

Edge and Official Xbox Magazine up whilst PSM2 and GamesMaster hold steady

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on Aug. 18, 2005

18/08/05- Future today releases the latest ABC audited circulation figures for all 10 games titles in its UK portfolio of 104 monthly and bimonthly magazines.

UK games circulation information

Future's UK games magazines were down 6.8% year-on-year to 513,773 copies per month.

Overall, sales of PlayStation magazines were down 18% year on year to 229,136 copies per month.

Revered multi-format games magazine Edge posted a 13.2% year-on-year circulation increase to 31,078 copies per month, as it began to break news of the next-generation of consoles, including the world exclusive first look at the Xbox 360 in Edge's June issue.

Official Xbox Magazine rose 1.8% year-on-year to 85,072 copies per month.

GamesMaster and PSM2 held steady with 0.2% and 0.3% circulation increases respectively.

Overall, Future now has 80% of the games magazine sector, including 83% of the PlayStation sub-sector and 80% of the Xbox.

Mia Walter is Publishing Director for Future Entertainment:

"We've announced an unsurprisingly mixed bag of ABC results across our games portfolio. The overall decline of 6.8% year-on-year comes at a quiet time in the current generation of hardware with no big triple-A releases like Halo 2 or GTA: San Andreas. We continue to invest in our games titles. Recent investment in both Edge and GamesMaster has paid off with a significant rise in Edge's circulation and GamesMaster is holding steady as the UK's bestselling multi-format games title.

"As gamers' attention now turns to new consoles like the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation Portable (PSP) Future is working on titles for the next-generation. We have already launched our Official PSP guidebook and are poised to launch the Official Xbox 360 Magazine this September."

ENDS

About Future

Future plc was founded in the UK in 1985. Today, it publishes over 150 special-interest consumer magazines worldwide with strong portfolios in the computing, games, music, automotive, sports, crafts and leisure sectors. It is the fifth largest magazine publisher in the UK. Future employs 1,450 people in offices in the UK, US, France and Italy. Over 100 international editions of Future's magazines are also published under licence in 30 other countries across the world. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR).

For more information:

Will Guyatt, Media Relations Manager, 01225 822517.

A breakdown of the ABC figures for Future's 19 UK titles audited for the period Jan - Jun 2005

Official PlayStation 2 Magazine - 133,242

PSW - 50,618

PSM2 - 45,276

Official Xbox Magazine - 85,072

Xbox World - 18,471

PC Gamer - 48,326

PC Zone - 32,632

GamesMaster - 55,388

Edge - 31,078